The Article in Brief

Low birth weight is the primary cause of illness and death in newborns in the United States, and has risen steadily during the last 17 years from 6.5% to 7.8% in 2002. In a low-income population, pregnant women who reported that the father was happier than they were about the pregnancy were at greater risk of having a low--birth-weight baby. If future research shows that attitudes toward pregnancy predict birth weight in other populations, this information may be useful in programs to reduce the occurrence of low--birth-weight babies.